Burned Bridges and New Beginnings
by Diana-Hunter
Summary: How Lilly started to recover from the shock of her best friend dumping her brother, her getting dumped by her boyfriend and the two dumpers getting together.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry if any there are any continuity errors, I haven't read _Brink_ or _Mia_ in a while. I am not Meg Cabot, although I do worship her, and therefore do not own the incredible Princess Diaries book series, which are absolutely nothing like the movies.

Lilly stomped into her history class, glaring at all of the world. How dare Mia betray her like that! And her brother! Just days after breaking up with Michael and Mia was already seeing somebody else! And not just a random guy, oh no no no, she was going out with Lilly's ex-boyfriend (who Lilly had been dumped by just days ago) JP, who had been merely using her this whole time to get to Mia. And Mia had fallen for it, like the idiotic baby-licker, brother-dumper that she was.

She sat in her seat, glaring at her book and making plans to create a website, . She underlined the URL in her notebook.

"Um Lilly," a voice asked nervously.

"What?" Lilly turned to glare at whoever was interrupting her plans to ruin her ex-best friend's life (and possibly eventual world domination, in which she would take particular pleasure in releasing a certain country known as Genovia from the tyrannical monarchical fists it was currently clenched in. Nevermind that they didn't pay taxes or that Mia's dad was well loved, _Mia_ must pay.) to find Kenny, another of Mia's ex-boyfriends.

"Are you okay?" She realized he was staring at the underlined URL written on her page.

"Of course not! My supposed best friend dumped my brother and started going out with my ex-boyfriend, something I thought she would never ever do!"

"Dump Michael or go out with your ex-boyfriend?" Kenny asked, sounding a little scared.

"Either! Although I guess I should have realized that she wouldn't be able to be single for too long. Mia has serious abandonment issues, I mean, before she had a boyfriend, she was obsessed with getting one and then as soon as she broke up with you she got together with my brother and-"

"Calm down Lilly," commented Kenny, flushing a little at the reminder of his and Mia's break up.

"How can I calm down!" She shrieked. The teacher had finished talking to somebody in the hallway and came into the room.

"Look, I know how terrible it seems right now, but everything will get better. You're Lilly Moscovitz, you even literally have your own TV show. You're awesome and strong and incredibly Josie-ish. Everything will be fine and Mia will realize how unlucky she is to have lost a friend like you." He gave her a reassuring smile before turning around as the teacher called the class to order.

_Josie-ish huh?_ Lilly thought to herself. She looked at Kenny out of the corner of her eye and realized how cute he had gotten over the past year.

_Maybe things will get better….._

A/N: Please review! Pretty Pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top? Also, I like Mia, I do, but I agree with Lilly that Mia was particularly neurotic in that book. And even though Lilly is a total jerk, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I tried to keep their characters as intact as possible.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Still don't own. Anything. Longer chapter this time, but I am counseling at a camp next week and so might not be able to update until after that (I will try though!) Also, Meg seems to change how she spells Lilly, but I'm going to keep with the double LL's, since that's what I started with.

The bell finally rang, signifying that it was the end of another long, arduous history which seemed intent upon wasting Lilly's time by re-teaching her things she already knew. It wasn't a complete waste though, as Kenney followed her out the door (had he been working out?) and pulled her over to the side.

"So Lilly," he began nervously and fidgeted with the strap on his backpack. There was a long silence.

"So what?" Lilly finally asked. Cute as Kenney was now, if he wanted to talk to her, he needed to talk; she had G&T next and an ex-friend whom she had to make suffer.

"Well, I heard that you kick-box, and Umm, I'm in a Muay Thai fighting group, which, as I'm sure you know is pretty similar to kickboxing, and I wanted to know if you'd like to come to our practice tonight? It might help relieve some of your anger, you can kick people and pretend their Mia." Lilly was speechless, Kenney was asking her out? And if she went out with him, than wouldn't she be doing the same thing Mia was doing, going out with her ex? No, Lilly reasoned, it wasn't the same, Mia had never felt about Kenney the way she had felt about JP. They'd never even French-kissed, let alone had sex for God's sake! Still, she could only think of one thing to say.

"How did you know I know how to kick-box?"

"Well, um, Mia told me, back when we were going out. She said your stalker, the foot fetishist, had gotten out of jail again and I was worried about you. She said that you had 'seen every episode of Xena Warrior Princess and could kick-box like nobody's business'." Lilly nodded, that made since. She was more interested in the sheepish way Kenney was talking about Mia, but reasoned that since he knew that she was angry at Mia, he was worried that mentioning her might tick her off. Or, if he really liked her, it was a common enough psychological phenomena for a person in a new relationship to try and forget the foibles of the old one to make way for the new one. Her mother had told her that, which was probably how her parents were able to get back together again.

"Okay Kenney; I'll go. But, can I stick a picture of Mia's face on one of the dummies and kick it?"

"Sure," Kenney smiled brightly, "I often put pictures of people I hate on there too."

Lilly was tapping away at the computer in G&T class, working on her website. She knew had watched Michael build enough websites to understand the process and, though she would have liked to ask Michael for "professional" advice, she knew that if he found out what the website was, he would get angry and annoy her.

She noticed that Mia kept on looking in her direction, as though she wanted to talk to her about something. '_As if'_ Lilly snorted in her mind. Mia could ask her anything in the world, she could be about to die, or Genovia could be about to enter into World War III and she wouldn't lift a finger to help.

Boris, of all people, pulled out a chair next to Lilly and stared at what she was doing.

"Lilly?"

"What Boris?" She'd gotten over his going out with Tina (Why did all of her friends end up going out with her exes?) but he still wasn't her favorite person in the world.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"None of your business," Lilly snapped angrily.

"Perhaps not mine, but it might be a certain friend of mine's business, considering you are, what is the term? Oh, yes 'cyber bullying' her." Boris looked distinctly disappointed in Lilly.

"Well, she 'real life' bullied me first, by, after I tried to support her! Breaking my brother's heart and stealing my boyfriend, barely a day after I had broken up with him! What's up with that?" The more and more Lilly thought about it, the more she wanted to kick real Mia's face, not just a dummy with her picture _'not that there's much difference at all between the two,' _Lilly thought uncharitably.

"Maybe you should listen to Mia's side of the story first. I mean, they have often printed things about her that are not true. And in the movie of her life, they portrayed you in what you seemed to believe was a fictitious way," Boris reasoned wisely.

"I've outgrown her," Lilly stated dramatically. "I'm tired of the whining, the 'boo hoo I'm a rich, pretty little princess, who is internationally known and loved, but my boyfriend wants to Do It with me.' And besides, I know her side of the story, she's going to whine about how she's the poor little victim here, and I should be the one to apologize. Well, I'm not apologizing! Ever!" Boris stared at her for a minute.

"You know Lilly, it seems like you're angrier about other things, besides the JP thing. Maybe if you told her the truth about what you're mad at her for, she'll try and stop."

"Don't try to psychoanalyze me Boris, if I want that than I'll make an appointment with one of my parents." Boris threw his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, I just thought that saying things out loud might help you sort them out. Evidently, I was wrong," he walked over to his case and pulled out his violin before darting into the supply closet to practice.

_ 'Man, I cannot wait until this day is over and I can go kick Mia's face in on a dummy.'_

AN: I like Boris, but he doesn't ever really get any spotlight or credit. I don't hate Mia, I promise, I just thought that Lilly really hated her at this point, so I was trying to convey that, so don't kill me for being mean to the princess. You know what comes next, I beg you to hit the little button, yes that one over there, and type in something. It can be as short as "good", or it can be five pages long, espousing my every virtue and detailing the wonderful, amazing-ness of my writing. Either way, and anywhere in between counted, please review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So, thanks to my reviewer! Hopefully I can get a few more people to give me their input on this chapter. Sorry it took a while, I was counseling at a camp and I was being run back and forth from 6 in the morning until late at night. And, having trained in a dojo, I know that most people don't go around shirtless, except for teenage boys who want to show off, which is what I'm going for here. I still don't own anything.

Lilly stared around the dojo, smelling sweat and hearing the battle cries and resounding slaps as Kenney's Muay Thai buddies landed their kicks on the dummies. She did, of course, also notice that the view wasn't too bad in here; there were a _lot_ of hot guys. And, sure, Kenny wasn't the absolute hottest, but he wasn't too shabby either. He was currently demonstrating to her the proper way to kick the dummy, without breaking a toe.

"Kenney," Lilly cried exasperatedly, "I _know_ how to kick box, you don't have to show me how to kick a dummy, I know how to take down men twice my size."

"Really," Kenney gave her an insufferable, and somehow incredibly attractive, smirk. "Lilly, just where did you learn how to do that?"

"Xena Warrior Princess," Lilly said unashamedly. Kenney smiled again.

"Have you ever actually kicked anybody before? Or anything for that matter?"

"Hey, you told me that you invited me here because you'd heard I knew how to kick box. Not to interrogate me."

"I'm not interrogating you. Now answer the question," his smile just kept on getting bigger and bigger, and Lilly was torn between being stubborn and openly drooling at the shirtless guy practicing on the dummy next to them. Lilly briefly wondered whether or not Kenney would take his shirt off to practice. With that, she finally decided that she needed to stop oogling all of the guys and be Lilly, which meant stubbornly refusing to give in.

"Kenney," she crossed her arms, "you and I both know that if one applies theory to reality, or in this case merely to a personal physical plain, as long as the theory is sound, the reality shall be as well. Mind over matter, so to speak, so regardless of whether I have actually ever kicked anything before, because I know the proper practical theory, I can do it." She smiled, pleased with the answer she had given, but Kenney was just shaken his head in a "you poor, sad, misguided person" sort of way.

"Lilly, even if that maybe true in a lab, we both know that even if you know the theory behind anything it doesn't mean that you can do it. I know the mechanics of a back flip, but I can't actually execute one. And, I also think that one can hardly count Xena Warrior Princess as the proper practical theory, for anything." Lilly nodded in response.

"Touche," she acknowledged, "but don't knock me or Xena. Now move away from the dummy. I have a face projected onto it already that I would very much like to kick." Kenney bowed slightly as moved off to the side, watching Lilly with amusement.

'Okay, you stupid, backstabbing, boyfriend stealer, brother dumper, baby-licker, let's see how you like my roundhouse in your pretty little princess face.' Lilly knew that in reality, Mia was so much taller than her that she never would have been able to kick her face without, like, pulling up a chair or something, but she charged the dummy anyways…. And slipped and fell on her butt.

"Hahahahahahaha," Kenney erupted into laughter and held his sides. Lilly felt her face redden, something that her face never did, as she realized that every Muay Thai fighter in the dojo had turned around to look at her and Kenney. A few of the others laughed, some looked sympathetic. One of the kinder, and very shirtless, guys walked over and held out his hand to her.

"Here. Don't worry, it happens to everyone when they first start," he reassured her as he helped her up.

"Oh, Lilly, haha, yes, you're right haha, Xena did totally teach you how to defeat an opponent. Nobody would _ever_ dare fight you!" Lilly just glared up at the laughing Kenney, filling in the gaps, she'd defeat her opponent by making him laugh to the point of incapacitation and nobody would dare fight her because she was so weak.

"Kenney," the guy who had helped her was shaking his head slowly, "you know its not fun to make fun of the newbies." Lilly twitched at the word. She was Lilly Moscovitz for crying out loud! She didn't fall over! She was a genius and naturally good at everything!

"I'm out of here," she was almost in tears out of embarrassment and Kenney, who she thought was nice, unlike everyone else she knew was turning out to be, was making a complete ass of himself and, even worse, her.

"Lilly, wait!" Kenney followed her over to where she was grabbing her stuff. "Don't take it so personally, everybody slips on the mats. And you have to admit, the look on your face was pretty priceless."

"I can hardly see my own face without a mirror." She was back to being stubborn, it was easier. Just like it was easier to give Mia the silent treatment than to try to talk to her about the fact that JP had dumped her for her.

"Do you want to try again?" Kenney persisted.

"No I don't Kenney, I want to, and am going, home." She left the dojo and ignored her mother, who was getting ready for another date with her dad (why wouldn't the two just get remarried for the powers that be's sake!) and went to her room, where she allowed herself to be overwhelmed with the weight of everything that had happened that week and started sobbing.

A/N: Depressing, I know. If you want a happier chapter soon, then you should review!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I still do not own, anything. Sorry for taking a while to update, life has a pesky way of getting in the way. Might be a little off on the time sequencing, but I can't find my copies of _Brink_ and _Mia_, so I don't have my references anymore, they'll turn up sooner or later though.

Lilly's heart was racing, she couldn't believe she had just done that! She couldn't _believe_ she had just done that!

It had all started innocently enough, Lilly had been sitting there eating, minding her own business, trying to get some stuff done for her new job as student body president and occasionally shooting glares over to where Mia now sat with Lana, Lana of all people! And Lana, as if the fact of her mere presence sitting next to Mia didn't irk her enough, was braiding Mia's hair, and Lilly had always thought that it was highly inappropriate for people to groom themselves in the cafeteria. Mia had been scribbling in her journal as usual, and had dark circles under her eyes, meaning she was stressed about something, not that Lilly cared. Oh no, she couldn't care less if that brother-dumper, boyfriend-stealer had been told that the world was going to end and she was the only one who could save it, she still wouldn't care. Well, maybe a little, but only because that meant that Lilly probably would die as well.

She was digressing though, as she was too busy glaring at Mia and pondering the end of the world, so she turned back to her work. Perin was sick today and so hadn't been sitting with her and Ling Su and Shameeka had gotten up to grab a dessert, meaning that Lilly was all alone at the table. It was in that moment that disaster struck.

She had taken her eyes off of Mia for two minutes and suddenly the little cretin had come crawling over to her table. Lilly could feel her eyes bulging out of her head as the ingrate began pouring out her troubles and begging Lilly to solve them, claiming that she shouldn't make the people of Genovia suffer just because Lilly was angry at her. It was then that Lilly exploded.

She started screaming, she could hardly even remember what, and a hush fell over the cafeteria everybody's eyes turned to watch the Princess of Genovia be humiliated by her former best friend. Lilly could see the tears pool up in Mia's eye and felt a little satisfaction that she was causing her at least a little of the pain that she had given Lilly. Another part of her though, was telling her to stop, to apologize and have the whole feud done with. But before that part could take over, Mia had run from the room, crying.

Everybody sat staring at her for a while, in shock and Lilly briefly noticed that Boris was frowning at her in disapproval before they all went back to their lunches.

"Hey Lilly," it was Kenney, he slid into the seat opposite from her and was looking at her concernedly.

"What do you want Kenney?" She grumbled, still not completely forgiving him for the Muay Thai incident. Where were Ling Su and Shameeka?

"I just wanted to know if you were okay," he was staring at her intently, and Lilly felt heat rising to her cheeks.

"Me? I'm fine, it's Mia that I just massacred in front of a third of the school. Why would you be worried about me?"

"Because for a daughter of two psychoanalysts you are not very self aware right now. You obviously have a lot of pent up emotions that needed to some out. Do you feel any better now, now that you've confronted some of them?"

"Since when were you an expert on psychology? But, you know, I feel like I might have been a little too vicious. But she broke my brother's heart and then started going out with my boyfriend, which friends just don't do." She looked at him pleadingly, hoping he would agree, she needed somebody to agree with her right now. Of course Kenney was too much of a guy to see that.

"What about Tina?" He asked.

"What about her?" Lilly asked annoyed.

"She's dating Boris, your ex, and you two are still friends. And I always thought that you and Boris had been closer than you and JP."

"Yeah, but Mia and I were always a lot closer than me and Tina. And besides, I dumped Boris, I was fairly cruel about it also I'm sorry to say. JP dumped me, and he was fairly cruel too. It's alright if you dump somebody and your friend goes out with them, but when somebody dumps you and for that person specifically! Well, then it is simply unacceptable for your friend to start going out with them." Kenney cocked his head curiously. She finally caught sight of Shameeka and Ling Su, they were hanging out over by Tina, spying on her and Kenney, obviously not wanting to interrupt. She made a face at them.

"Did JP say he was dumping you for Mia, or did you just assume….?"

"He said it, okay! And I'm not going to tell Mia, because she deserves that phony, being so phony herself!" Kenney was silent for a little bit, deep in thought.

"Where does that leave us?" He asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?" asked Lilly puzzled.

"Well, I dumped Mia, but I also know now, in hindsight, that she never really wanted to go out with me in the first place. Would you, theoretically, be allowed to go out with me, by all of your crazy rules?" Lilly stared for a second, surprised, was Kenney asking her out?

"Mia's not my friend anymore and so none of her exes are subject to the same rules of being off limits. Well, obviously my brother still is, that would be incest; gross, illegal, and just plain wrong, but as for you, well I guess I could. But who says I want to?" If she was being honest with herself, it was just the dojo incident which had her sore. Kenney was good looking and nice and funny and her intellectual equal, which was not something she found very often outside of her own gene pool, but then the members of her own gene pool tended to annoy her to no end on top of it.

"Okay Lilly, I'm going to cut the crap," Lily felt a little thrill at the fact that Kenney was being so assertive. "I like you, a lot, and I would really like to go out with you, off limits because of old exes or not. I'm sorry for what happened in the dojo, please put that aside and just ask yourself whether or not you want to go out with _me_." Lilly's mouth flew open, she was sort of expecting him to ask her out, but was he a mind reader or something?

"Um, well, er, uh, okay." She never stuttered damnit! And she never said things quietly like that, she was Lilly, she was confident, she would carry on, and hopefully not break out into the chorus of "I Will Survive" in the middle of the cafeteria at the end of lunch hour. "Sure, why not?" She said much louder this time.

"Good," Kenney smiled a smile that made her temporarily forget about Mia and Michael and JP, it was a smile that, as cliché as it sounded, made her feel warm inside. It was then that the bell rang.

A/N: longer this time, per request. And Michael will make an appearance in the next chapter, I promise. Thanks as always for reading. And hopefully for reviewing.

-Diana


	5. Author's Note

Author's Note:

I am truly sorry, I know that you were hoping for another chapter, but right now it's just a message from me. I will not be able to update for another two weeks probably, if I manage to update in the meantime it will be a miracle. I am out of town, and have maybe ten minutes per day in which I have time to do anything, so it is taking me quite a bit longer to write this chapter than previous ones. And now I just wasted today's ten minutes. But at least I'm not leaving you completely hanging now.

Thanks, as always, for reading,

Diana


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